Items tagged with ethereum
The Bitcoin boom has generally gone bust, and as a result, we just don't hear as much about cryptocurrency as a major market mover as we used to. The value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies crashed last summer, leaving many investors hurting and lots of crypto mining rigs with expensive GPUs running idle and unused. The good news for gamers is that the crash of crypto meant graphics cards were finally available at reasonable prices. Further, a new report has been published today that throws more shade on the legitimacy of Bitcoin trading as a currency itself. The analysis was published by Bitwise this week and found that unregulated currency exchanges actually fake 95% of Bitcoin...
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Hold onto your wallet. Researchers at ESET have discovered the first known instance of a relatively new strain of cryptocurrency-stealing malware, called a "clipper", on the Google Play Store. They reported their findings to the Play Store's security team on February 1st, who quickly took down the offending application. The attack uses a remarkably simple trick to part users with their digital funds. Cryptocurrency values are assigned to a long, unique string of characters known as a wallet. In order to make a transaction, a sender typically needs to enter the recipient's wallet address in their app. This is similar to how you would put a real-world address on an envelope in order for it to be...
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If you've invested heavily in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum over the past year, you probably need a stiff drink right about now. The cryptocurrency "boom" is no more, and values are heading south, much to the chagrin of crypto miners that thought mining with off-the-shelf [and custom] hardware would bring them digital fortunes. Take Bitcoin, for example; the cryptocurrency fell to as little as $5,900 in the past 24 hours before rebounding to just over 6,000 as of this writing. As recently as May, Bitcoin was trading at around $10,000 and in late 2017, it was topping $19,000. In total, Bitcoin is down 68 percent from its meteoric high. Things are looking worse over in Ethereum...
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MyEtherWallet confirmed on Twitter that hackers hijacked its Domain Name System (DNS) servers and redirected users to a phishing site in Russia. By obtaining private keys from affected users, the hackers reportedly were able to swipe around 215 Ethereum coins (ETH) worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $150,000. The attack lasted for several hours, and one user in particular lost more than 85 ETH worth almost $60,000. In the Twitter post, MyEtherWallet emphasized that the security breach did not take place on its side of the equation, and that it's currently in the process of verifying exactly which servers were hit so it can resolve the issue. In the meantime, MyEtherWallet is advising users...
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When it comes to cryptocurrency mining, many small- and large-scale outfits have cornered the GPU market, buying up large quantities of current generation AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards. Gamers have especially been hit hard by miners, as even mainstream graphics cards that should be heading towards the bargain bin at this stage in their lifecycle are priced above MSRP. However, it looks as though Intel might have come up with a solution for a way to more efficiently mine for cryptocurrency instead of using hardware that was originally designed for an unrelated task. Intel's patent was filed on September 23, 2016 and was published by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office yesterday. The patent...
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Ethereum has taken a swift kick to the blockchain after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it has "dozens" of investigations open in the cryptocurrency space associated with ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings). The announcement of the investigations was made by an agency official on March 15. The confirmation that the investigations have been opened comes after SEC Enforcement Division co-Director Stephanie Avakian announced in February that subpoenas had been sent to firms that were believed to have broken securities laws. SEC scrutiny of ICOs (initial coin offerings) has grown significantly since billions of dollars in digital assets were sold during 2017, many of which were...
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Plattsburgh, New York is city that has just over 30,000 residents, and those citizens recently saw their power bills unexpectedly increase due to a problem that is starting to affect more people in the United States. We're talking about cryptocurrency mining, of course. Plattsburgh has placed an 18-month ban on new commercial cryptocurrency mining operations after the city was forced to buy additional power to keep up with demand, in turn causing everyone's rates to go up. For gamers, the rise in cryptocurrency mining means that the hot graphics cards that we'd like to get our hands are hard to find and often priced through the roof. However, not everyone needs a graphics card. But electricity...
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Google is taking a stand against advertisements on the internet that promote cryptocurrencies, cryptocurrency exchanges/wallets/trading advice and/or initial coin offerings (ICO). The tech giant says that it will no longer serve ads through its platforms for these products and services starting in June 2018. "We don't have a crystal ball to know where the future is going to go with cryptocurrencies, but we've seen enough consumer harm or potential for consumer harm that it's an area that we want to approach with extreme caution," said Scott Spencer, Google's Director of Sustainable Ads, in an interview with CNBC. In addition, Google will add the following to its "restricted" list with respect...
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There are plenty of uncertainties and grey areas currently lurking around the cryptocurrency market. From wild fluctuations in valuations, to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin being used on the black market, to government institutions that are looking to get in on a piece of the action, we're still in the "Wild Wild West" days and far from mainstream penetration. Image Source: Flickr via Sebastian Vital With that in mind, Bill Gates gave his thoughts on cryptocurrencies when asked in a reddit "Ask Me Anything" session that was held on Tuesday. To put it bluntly, he is not a fan... at all. Gates stated: The main feature of crypto currencies is their anonymity. I don't think this is a good thing. The...
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Last November a hacker going by the name "DevOps199" found and exploited a flaw in the code for a subset of Ethereum wallets. That user was able to exploit teh vulnerability and take ownership of an Ethereum code library known as a smart contact. Once the hacker owned that smart contract, it was destroyed leaving about $150 million of Ethereum sitting in users' wallets inaccessible. Researchers have now found a new approach that will find vulnerabilities in smart contracts such as the one exploited last year and patch it before a nefarious user could take advantage of the situation. The researchers claim that they found 3,000 vulnerable contracts with a total worth of about $6 million. "We’re...
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Atari has just announced something that will surprise all the gamers out there who grew up on its consoles and games. The company made a big unveil today and while it's not a new console or game, Atari will actually be minting its own new type of cryptocurrency. The new altcoin type will be called "Atari Token" and no, it isn’t trying to take on Bitcoin. Atari Token won't be worth real money apparently, however, it will be used on a new digital entertainment platform to buy content like video games, music, and movies. The deal was inked by Atari SA, the French firm now holding all Atari properties and Infinity Networks. Technically Atari isn’t implementing the new cryptocurrency,...
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The effect that cryptocurrency mining has had on the graphics card market has been so extreme, very few people could have predicted it. GPUs that were as easy to purchase as a gallon of milk became as hard to find as the hottest deal at Best Buy on Black Friday. In addition to the rarity, inflated pricing has been a real issue as well, with many GPUs costing twice as much (or more) than their intended MSRP. A $649 GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, for example, can currently be had as "cheap" as $900, and that's a relative bargain compared to some of the other pricing we've seen. It's not hard to find the same GPU going for $1,300+ at virtually any e-tailer. One of the saving graces for gamers has been companies...
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When AMD announced its earnings last week, the company made it a point to indicate that it would boost capacity in order to address the GPU supply strain caused by booming cryptocurrency mining demand. Yesterday, it was NVIDIA's turn to release earnings -- which it knocked out of the park, by the way -- and it too is looking to address GPU supply problems. NVIDIA CEO and founder Jen-Hsun Huang during his company's earnings call brought attention to the woes gamers (and cryptocurrency miners) are facing when attempting to purchase a Pascal-based graphics cards these days. "We're working really hard to get GPU down to the marketplace for the gamers and we’re doing everything to advise retailers...
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If you need any more evidence that cryptocurrency mining is hitting primetime, look no further than this latest report that Samsung is looking into get in on the action. Samsung is reportedly producing application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for Chinese customers that will be use for Bitcoin mining. The initial report, which comes courtesy of a South Korean publication, cites Samsung officials as the source for this information. The chips allegedly completed the development phase late last year and entered production earlier this month. Samsung already confirmed today during its Q4 earrings call that it will see "benefit from cryptocurrency demand increase." This coincides with comments...
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